Leaves that are Green
by WhistleWhileYouWork
Summary: A downed plane, a forest crawling with gestapo, and seemingly countless missions from London. What could go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**Well, I may not 'know nothing' but I certainly own nothing. Not even the character whose pov takes up the second half of this chapter.**

 **And of course Hogan's Heroes, the characters and concept are not mine.**

 **Just the plot. That is mine.**

 ***EDITED* 02/08 - dialogue & punctuation**

* * *

The drone of planes overhead drew Carter to cautiously peek out of the window. The night sky was pitch black however, and the bombers passed unseen somewhere out in its murky depths.

"They sound like ours Colonel," he commented as Hogan came to stand behind him, coffee mug in hand.

"They are," he said, peering out into the darkness as well, "I'm afraid they're just passing through though, so no fireworks show tonight."

Two uneventful seconds passed by before an anti-aircraft gun started up somewhere in the distance and the sky was lit up by the orange flames of a hit bomber.

Hogan winced, "Me and my big mouth."

"What's the matter mon Colonel?" Lebau enquired.

"One of our bombers was hit, and not too far from here either."

"Merde!" Lebau muttered angrily.

Hogan turned back to Carter. "Carter, do you think you saw roughly where that went down?"

"Yes sir, I think so," Carter replied.

"Reckon you can get there before the Krauts do?"

"No problem boy!" He quickly realized his mistake. "Uh, I mean, sir."

"Good." Hogan elected to ignore the slip-up. "Take Newkirk and see if you can rescue any flyers, but if it gets too risky or takes too long, then you come straight back here, you understand?"

"Yes sir!" Came Carter's enthusiastic reply.

"No problem guv." Was Newkirk's more subdued version.

* * *

For a brief moment after he bailed out, he feared that he'd left his stomach back on the plane. Fumbling with the chord of his parachute, his descent was slowed with a painful jolt and his stomach re-joined the rest of him.

The descent was terrifying. His whole world was bathed in an orange glow as bits of debris rained down frighteningly close around him. He was falling both too fast and too slow at the same time. The black mass of forest beneath him reached out for him as he drew nearer and nearer. Grasping and clawing at him until eventually catching hold of his parachute, leaving him dangling several feet from the ground like a discarded puppet.

In the gloom he thought he could make out the white canvas of another parachute, and another figure similarly suspended.

"Sergeant Clements sir?" he called out tentatively.

There was no response.

"Captain McIntosh?"

Nothing.

"Sir?" A sense of dread filled him as he clumsily attempted to manoeuvre his gangly frame out of the parachute and down the tree. His hands shook uncooperatively at every action.

Having narrowly avoided falling several times until the very end, he gingerly picked himself up off the ground and shakily made his way over to stand beneath his unresponsive superior.

"Is that you Mr Clements Sir?" He couldn't keep the tremor from his voice and at the continued silence his eyes pricked with tears. Blinking rapidly, he gazed around himself at his dark, unfamiliar surroundings. Would the Germans shoot him if they found him?

Something wet dripped onto his cheek from above. It was warm and when he tentatively wiped at it his fingers came away dark and sticky. His breath caught in his throat and his head spun dizzyingly. His thudding heartbeat filled his ears as he leaned against the tree and was sick. Tears streamed down his face and he couldn't bring himself to turn around again and face the corpse dangling morbidly above his head.

So instead, he ran.

* * *

 **Well, that was my first attempt at writing anything Hogan's Heroes related. Please tell me what you think: honest feedback would be greatly appreciated. I aim to improve so I will certainly not take offence to any criticism. ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! Thank you all very much for the reviews and feedback, I found it all very helpful. This chapter took so long to put up because I was researching punctuation. (I _will_ understand it all one day!) I tried looking over the previous chapter to correct punctuation and make it slightly less painful to read, but I'll be honest, I wasn't able to identify a lot of the mistakes and it's probably no better than before, but I tried. I also improved the dialogue somewhat, so that's hopefully less monotonous now. (Thank you baja-king and snooky-9093 for the pointers!) :)**

 **Anyway, onwards! I own nothing but the plot.** **Most of the contents of this story is from Hogan's Heroes and therefore not mine. The downed flier belongs to Dad's Army, so he's not mine either. (Dad's Army is my all-time favourite sitcom ever, if you've never seen it before, then I highly recommend it.) ;)**

 **Also, sorry in advance for all the skipping and jumping in POVs in this chapter.**

* * *

He tripped and fell several times in the darkness. He was covered in mud and sopping wet. What would his mother say? Probably that he was likely to get croup from being in such a state, though Sergeant Clements had told him that that wasn't possible. There were a lot of things that he'd learnt weren't true since joining the RAF, some of which he'd rather have stayed ignorant about.

* * *

After carefully searching the area of the wrecked plane, Carter and Newkirk had called it a night and were heading back when they started noticing a bad smell in the air.

"Holy Cow!"

"Wha- Bleedin' Hell!"

Both torches were trained on the bloodied corpse hanging above them like some obscene Christmas tree decoration.

"C'mon, we'd better head back," Newkirk said, turning away from the ghastly sight and starting to head in the direction of the camp.

"Wait Newkirk, I think someone else might have been here." Carter's torch was pointed up at the abandoned parachute in the next tree.

"I wonder what gave you that idea," Newkirk deadpanned, then turned to search the area below the tree for any signs of where the lost flier might have gone. "Looks like we're not the only ones to find our friend 'ere," he commented as the torch's beam landed on the puddle of sick at the base of the tree; the source of the sour smell filling the air. "Got any useful tracking skills Little Deer Who Runs Swift and Sure Through the Forest?" He asked sarcastically.

"Well..." Andrew said, turning in a slow circle "I guess that those plants there look pretty trampled to me," he observed, walking in that direction, "and... and there's a footprint!" He said excitedly.

"Lead on mate, lead on."

* * *

Having fallen for seemingly the hundredth time, he decided that he'd had enough. His hands and knees hurt, he was covered in cuts and grazes, and he was tired.

He missed home terribly. He wished that he was back with the Home Guard, and he wished that he was still working at the bank. But mostly, he wished that he was with his mum. And Uncle Arthur too for that matter.

Having given up on blindly running through the forest, he decided his best bet was to find somewhere to hide, at least until morning when he could he see where he was going.

* * *

They'd been following the trail for longer than Newkirk felt comfortable with. The Germans had almost certainly started searching the woods by now and it wouldn't be long before it would be impossible to move through the woods without encountering a patrol.

Newkirk decided to voice his concerns. "Carter, look mate, I think we should be heading back."

"But we haven't found him yet. Look, I know we're close, we just-"

"This whole bleedin' forest will be crawlin' with Germans any minute, we have to go now!"

"But the Krauts'll get him if we don't. Are you just going to leave him? Gee, I thought you were better than that, I'm sorry." Carter felt bad for guilt tripping Newkirk, but they couldn't just leave the flier, they just couldn't.

"I never said that." Newkirk countered, but he knew that he was about to give in to whatever Carter's next request would be.

"15 minutes Newkirk. Please. I know we'll find him."

Newkirk glowered, his mind going over the possible risks. "Fine," he relented, "But not a moment more."

* * *

Newkirk thought he heard a faint barking in the distance. He strained his hearing, but it was too far away to hear it distinctly. It may just have been paranoia, but Newkirk felt that they'd outstayed their welcome in the forest.

"Listen Carter, I think we'd better-"

"Shh! I think I heard something."

Although disgruntled at having been shushed by Carter, Newkirk listened carefully. The faint sound of hitched breathing gave away another presence in the area. With as little sound as possible, they made their way towards a dense patch of bushes where the sound seemed to be coming from.

Crouching down in front of the foliage, Newkirk called out, "You alright mate?"

There was a gasp and violent rustling as the occupant scrambled into a more alert position.

"Hey now, it's alright, we're Allies too!" Carter quickly assured. "We've come to get you someplace safe."

There was a pause, followed by more rustling as a blue clad figure slowly stood up, looking sheepish. He was covered in mud and shivering miserably.

"I'm sorry." He dragged a sleeve across his eyes: he had clearly been crying.

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Carter told him cheerily, "In fact, we're pretty glad we found you boy! Uh, I mean-" Carter suddenly realised that he hadn't even introduced himself yet, he quickly amended this, "I'm sorry, I'm Carter, and this is Newkirk."

"Pike." The young man said, shaking hands with them both.

"Well c'mon then, let's get you back." Newkirk said, leading the way back to camp. Pike exited the bushes, though stumbled and almost fell into Carter before regaining his balance and eagerly following the two heroes. Wherever 'back' was was bound to be better than here.

* * *

 **I hope that chapter had less mistakes than the last one, though again, I would be very appreciative of any feedback you might have and suggestions for improvements. If anything is glaringly wrong and painful to read, please drop me note and I will fix it when putting up the next chapter. I don't mind criticism at all, so if you have any, lay it on me; I aim to improve after all! ;)**


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